FORMER Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot in the city of Nara on July 8, 2022.
Shinzo Abe, Japan’s longest-serving Prime Minister, was giving a speech when he suffered a gunshot wound to the back.
After the attack, security personnel quickly detained a man who reportedly did not attempt to flee the scene.
The suspect has been named as Yamagami Tetsuya, 41.
Tetsuya is reported to be a former Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force member.
Japanese media say he spent three years in the force, before leaving in 2005.
Paramedics rushed to help the former Prime Minister, 67, at the scene before he was airlifted to hospital.
Since the attack the suspect has been in custody but has not yet been charged.
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During a speech for an election candidate in Nara, two gunshots were heard and gunfire was seen from behind Abe.
The first shot reportedly missed Abe but the second shot hit him in his back.
He fell to the ground and has since been taken to Nara Medical University Hospital.
Local news NHK said Abe was “conscious and responsive” but has since reported that the fire department said he is “showing no vital signs”.
Current Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida says Abe remains in a critical condition in hospital.
“Currently doctors are doing everything they can, at this moment. I am hoping and praying that former prime minister Abe will survive this,” he says.
Kishida slammed the shooting as a “heinous act”.
Shinzo Abe was Prime Minister for a year in 2006 then held the position again from 2012 to 2020.
He stepped down for health reasons, later sharing that he has suffered a relapse of ulcerative colitis.
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Gun violence is rare in Japan as handguns are banned but photos of the scene appeared to show a home-made double-barrelled shotgun.
Strict exams and mental health tests are in place to stop people owning guns and even then only shotguns or air rifles are permitted.
